Around the time of the whole Japan earthquake crisis, I decided that praying for Japan might be a good way for me to introduce the concept of praying for other countries to my three year old. After all, I would like her to develop a world view perspective. Up until now, we've been praying pretty consistently at night and she has gotten down the concept of praying for herself and even for the people around her that she knows (mommy, daddy, sister, grandparents, even friends..) I was not so sure whether she'd get the concept of praying for someone or something she is not daily in contact with and was amazed at the results.
I tried to keep it simple by telling her that we should pray for Japan because there was an earthquake which made a lot of houses fall down so many little boys and girls lost their houses. Boy did she have a lot of questions.
"Why did the houses fall down?"
"Well, because there was an earthquake"
"Why was there an earthquake?"
"Sometimes earthquakes happen"
"Why our house didn't fall down?"
"Because there is no earthquake here"
"But why there is no earthquake here"
"Because God didn't let there be an earthquake here"
"Why did God let there be an earthquake in Japan?"
uhh... I had to think about this one... trying to keep things simple for a 3 year old actually was making things harder than I thought...
"Well... sometimes God let bad things happen... but that's why we have to now pray and ask God to help those in need..."
So then she wanted to pray and it went something like this... I wish I tape recorded...
"Dear God, please help Japan because she doesn't have a house. Please let there not be anymore earthquake so her house doesn't fall down. Please help Japan feel better. in Jesus name, Amen."
Then she asked me if we could invite Japan to our house since "she" doesn't have a house (think she thinks Japan is a person). I tried to explain the concept that Japan had a lot of people in it because it was a country and that they would not all fit in our house. She then tells me that maybe some of the people can go to a friend's house. I was just so tickled and amazed by our whole conversation and I didn't know I was going to get all that from just introducing the concept of praying for Japan. So for a couple of nights in a row, she would voluntarily offer to pray for Japan. My mom tells me that when she was babysitting while I was at work, my daughter even told her all about Japan and the earthquake there.
It is just amazing to me how a three year old brain works...
Here are some interesting scientific facts I learned about Japan and the impact the recent earthquake had:
- moved Japan 13 feet closer to the US
- shifted the earth's axis by 6.5 inches
- shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds (we're spinning faster!)
- sank Japan downward by 2 feet
